1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automatic original handling device used in a copying apparatus, and more particularly to a device for automatically conveying and stopping an original to be copied to and at the original carriage portion of a copying apparatus and for automatically returning the original from the apparatus after the optical scanning necessary for the image formation corresponding to the original has been effected, and for automatically conveying another original in succession.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, placement of an original on the original carriage portion of a copying apparatus has often been manually effected by the operator of the copying apparatus and this has required much labor and much time and moveover, has suffered from not a little deviation of the original from its proper position, thus preventing proper copying from being performed.
As a solution to these problems, there is known a conveyor device for automatically conveying an original to the original carriage portion.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,552 discloses a construction in which original conveyor means comprising a belt passed over two rollers is provided on the original carriage portion so that originals are conveyed by the friction between the belt and the surface of the original carriage and originals are registered and stopped by an original stop member provided at an end of the original carriage surface.
However, in such device, since flexible originals conveyed by the friction between the belt and the original carriage surface is mechanically stopped by the stop member, the originals nipped between the belt and the original carriage surface tend to be bent or wrinkled or otherwise damaged.
As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,829,083 discloses a device in which originals placed on an original support bed are fed therefrom by a separating roller and the trailing end of original is detected by a microswitch in the course of its conveyance and after a predetermined time, conveyor rollers are stopped from rotating so that the original is placed at a predetermined position on the original carriage.
In case of such device, the drawbacks noted with respect to the above-described conveyor device are rarely encountered, but if the originals are not placed at an accurate position on the original support bed, namely, if the originals are obliquely placed on the bed or if the originals are obliquely fed by a separation roller, it is not possible to place the originals at an accurate position on the original carriage surface, and thus, proper copying cannot take place to a great inconvenience.